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Mis à jour le 18 juillet 2023
A good employee wants to leave your company. Here’s how to keep them… or nurture their post-employment experience.
The current average tenure of a job is just over four years. It is therefore essential to positively nurture your employees’ post-employment experience.
There are many reasons for leaving a job: inadequate salary, uncompetitive benefits, lack of recognition, limited advancement prospects or simply a desire for something new. In this period of significant labour shortage, it is more important than ever to take care of the relationship with your employees, including those who may leave you for other opportunities.
Talk to your employee
It is in your best interest to meet with the employee early and open a discussion. Whether or not you are trying to retain the employee, you need to understand their reasons for leaving the organization. You will need to show a degree of openness during the discussion so that the employee will share with you the reasons that led to this decision. This is particularly important if you want to do the right things to encourage them to stay with your organization.
In fact, salary is rarely the only reason given. Of course, if your organization is not competitive in this area, you risk losing other employees. However, there are other factors that contribute to a positive employee experience and strengthen their emotional connection to the organization: schedule flexibility, open management, enjoying the work, etc.
For example, for some, working from home is a key driver that allows them to enjoy their personal lives while being productive and engaged.
Another important consideration is the relationship with their manager. If employees do not feel that they are treated with respect, if they feel that they are in a toxic work environment, they will quickly lose any emotional connection with the employer.
However, you have to be careful and strike a balance between trying to retain employees and meeting all of their requests because of concerns about the labour shortage. This could cause some unfairness to other employees and the problem could grow. Take time to think, talk to your managers.
Keep the door open
You can also keep the door open, telling them that they can contact you if they’re not happy with their new job. Who knows, maybe there will be a position for them in the future?
As for an employee who is being let go, that’s a whole other situation. The best thing you can do in this case is to proceed with respect and meet with the employee to explain the reasons for the dismissal. They say there is no right way to fire an employee, but there are wrong ways… You have to be diplomatic.
Conduct exit interviews
Exit interviews can provide valuable information about employees’ views of your business and help you determine if your employee retention strategies need to be improved. You need to make employees feel that you are not taking their departure lightly. If they leave on a respectful note, they are more likely to speak highly of the organization. They will not hesitate to recommend you to their friends and family.
You can also take advantage of employee departures to ask your managers to meet with their team to take stock of the situation. Of course, in a large organization, where there are more departures because of the greater number of employees, you don’t necessarily have to go through this process every time. However, it is something that should not be neglected.
Pay attention to the exit process
When building a strong employer brand, you need to work on all aspects of the employee relationship, from the recruitment process to the end of employment, including all stages related to hiring (training, respectful management, working conditions, etc.).
The termination process is often neglected. However, it is an integral part of the employee experience. This is a factor that can help you maintain a good brand image and attract talented personnel who will bring added value to your entity.